5 takeaways from John Calipari's introductory press conference
Bud Walton Arena was buzzing Wednesday evening leading up to the introduction of new Arkansas head coach John Calipari.
Despite poor weather conditions, fans, local media and reporters from all over the country journied to Fayetteville to see what the Hall of Fame head coach had to say after shocking the college basketball world.
The former Kentucky Wildcats head coach was welcomed to an unfamiliar round of applause when he took the stage on Nolan Richardson Court inside Bud Walton Arena, but quickly adjusted and began telling the story of how his hire came about.
"John Tyson, he said, ‘You need to talk to my AD while you're in Phoenix. He’s in Phoenix,'" Calipari said. "'What? Well, tell him to call me and I’ll meet him tomorrow. You want me to talk about candidates?' I didn’t even know, and we met for about an hour-and-a-half, maybe less than that. Part of the time we talked about other people. Then (Hunter Yurachek) said, ‘I know that you think this is a great job. Why not you?’ Why not me? ‘Yeah, why not you?'"
Calipari touched on multiple subjects throughout the night, including his thoughts on leaving Kentucky, building a roster, NIL and more.
HawgBeat breaks things down with the five most interesting takeaways from Calipari's introductory press conference on Wednesday:
Calipari's Charisma
Charisma is a lost art among college coaches. Coach speak has become the norm in most conversations, but Calipari flipped that on its head and blasted the Bud Walton Arena crowd with his relatability through stories and kindness.
That was evident multiple times throughout the event, but especially when he interrupted himself mid-story to address a familiar face in the crowd.
"As a player, I was small, but I was slow," Calipari said. "I see (refers to the crowd) brother down there. How’s mom doing? You tell her I asked for her."
You just don't see that level of authenticity nowadays, and it's not shocking to see why Calipari has had so much success throughout his career. At the end of the day, he just tries to bring people together.
"It's what I've always tried to do," Calipari said. "When we get this thing going or we get this thing done, I want thousands of people to say, 'Without me, this doesn't happen.' Thousands. Not just one or two, not my staff.
"It was everybody came together and said, 'Without me, none of this happens.' I look at trying to create that love affair. A love affair between this program and this campus, this program and this state. I know these programs are important to the state. All these programs are important to the state."
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